1 September 2009

in which I discover the focus ring

I wanted to talk about my new camera and the journey she and I are embarking upon together, but I figured that those of you who are interested in photography will know much more about the technical stuff than I do, and those of you who are not into photograpy, won't give two hoots.

So maybe you can just look at the pretty pictures instead?

Ah stuff it. I've had a glass of wine; I can't blog without rambling a little bit. But no techie 'tips and tricks' I promise. (Because I don't know any anyway, I'm just a fumbler).

In the olden days of film I had a lovelysimplefriendly Pentax K1000 (which I believe is now something of a cult camera). I loved that camera and when we were burgled and it was stolen I was heartbroken. (As heartbroken as I was when I realised the thief had taken the half-finished baby blanket I was making for the imminent arrival of Son #2, to wrap the breakable goods in). The insurance company sent me along to a camera shop to have it replaced (the camera, not the crocheted blanket which was IRREPLACEABLE and PRICELESS) and the salesman talked me into a whizzbang thing that had an LCD screen and many many buttons and automatic bits. I used it for a month without any joy and then returned it, asking to swap it back for a basic old Pentax K1000. The sales guy was aghast at my stupidity but I was insistent, and with the extra money (the whizzbang thing that the insurance co. had told me I could have was worth way more) I bought a zoom lens. Double bonus. I was happy for years with a K1000 in my hands again. I never used the auto settings, as I knew if I did, I would never learn how to take decent shots or understand the mechanics of shutter speeds and aperture settings. I became more competent, and photography became quite a significant interest of mine.

And then along came the exciting world of digital and with some frequent flyer points that were about to expire, I 'purchased' a little Canon pocket digital and I have not bought a roll of film since, nor paid to have my pictures developed, such a cheapskate am I. There followed three happy years of simple digital point n shoot photography.

But I have been hanging out for over a year now for an SLR again. And so when the opportunity came to buy a second hand digital Pentax SLR (Pentax! my old love!), I jumped at it. Also, the entire administration of the sale was orchestrated through Twitter, which tickled me.

Anyway, I loved the new Pentax, but I had to relearn everything (slowly, because I am old now and my neural pathways have ... what? what was I saying?), plus this Pentax came with Sigma lenses which didn't match the instructions in the manual, and also didn't accord with my memory of the K1000 settings. I wanted to be roolly roolly good at taking photos immediately, and that, of course, didn't happen. Frustrating.

Then one day I [re]learned about the av priority setting, and a week or so later I found the focus ring! (It was cunningly hidden right out there in the obvious position).

I know there are people on the Flickr forums who scoff at bokeh and the plethora of short depth of field shots, but I'm loving finding my feet again. Not to mention finding the teeny tiny stamens of a flower, the speckles on the surface of an egg, or the twinkle in a baby magpie's eye.

I set the boys loose wit hmy little digi camera this morning so they could do a photo shoot with their new toy bears (courtesy of a GENEROUS aunt). they had so much fun I felt guilty for not letting them do it sooner.

O.K. I've only just , after a year , discovered that I can , in theory , take indoor ( read dark-ish ) photos with my Canon . A simple camera for a beyond simple owner ! I'm always amazed by your photos and think there's slightly more involved than a zippy camera . If I went totally berserk and spent my life savings on a new one , I still wouldn't achieve the simple perfection of that egg photo .

The new camera shots are just great — but there was nothing lacking about your previous photos.My son has a fancy-schmancy big digital Nikon in his room that I'm itching to experiment with. I know where the manual is, too ...

I HEART Pentax. Am saving and scrimping to buy a Pentax DSLR - with lithium battery, not the double AAs I was aghast to see the lower end of the market was still using. Does yours use double AA batteries? How many shots do you get?

Hi Katie. This is a very basic simple Pentax and it uses AA batteries. I bought a set of rechargeable ones and they last for yonks. I have no idea how many shots I get but it's heaps, and then I just recharge the batteries. Easy.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Am working hard to have steady enough hands to use the macro setting on my digital jobbie. Got a few nice ones at the beach recently and surprised my withering flickr account by posting them!

Wow! I hear you girl. I also had a 'good' camera (Nikon)until it got dropped in a crevice in New Zealand's Fox Glacier....and it was just never the same afterwards. My folks bought me a basic Kodak digital camera to get me through until I could afford another decent camera which was great of them, but it's just not the same. Look forward to being able to afford a 'decent' camera again. It's hard to go back isn't it? Maybe we get a bit spoilt?

People who scoff at short-depth-of-field shots are just tiresome. They are always breathtaking and give you a warm feeling in the pit of your stomach.

Lovely photos.

But, do you miss film Maybe just a little? I'm a little over the whole 'shoot in RAW and then fix it up and crop the crap out' thing. I wonder are we losing our real photography skills or am I just Bah Humbug?

(although I must confess a little disappointment - the tab at the top of my internet browser shortened the name of this post to "in which I learn to disco...". I was hopeful of seeing you in spandex with pointed finger... with some dlightful bokeh behind you of course)